Opened at the end of last year, Kokugura is gaining buzz with its focus on authentic ramen with top shelf ingredients. At night, the venue transforms into an upscale intimate bar.  

 

The restaurant and bar is founded and headed by chef Kulapol “Air” Samsen who worked at the Michelin-star Gaa before before garnering success in a local Ari favorite, Yoong Chang, a neo-Chinese cuisine restaurant that mixes various cooking techniques into one dish.

 

 

“As an Ari local myself, I see a lot of diversity in the dining scene but there aren’t any ramen shops around here yet,” Chef Air tells BK. He adds that ramen shops are usually in Sukhumvit, so there’s a lot of time and money you need to invest in just to venture into town.

 

The chef decided to take matters into his own hands and create Ari’s very own craft ramen shop. With the belief that you can’t create something delicious, if you haven’t tried it out yourself, the chef started right in the dish’s birthplace. It took him seven days to hit up 23 world famous Japanese ramen shops and over six months of research, finally achieving the restaurant’s signature combination of rich pork and seafood broth.

 

 

Being located inside a building is a deliberate choice, mimicking hidden restaurants you’d typically discover in Japan or Hong Kong. Customers are greeted with jazz, classic, and other musical beats in a Scandinavian cottage vibe with slightly medieval decor that allows visitors to feel like they’re resting in a snowy cabin—cozy and sleek is the key.

 

 

One dish that put Kokugura on the map is the Japanese standard Ika-Sumi Tsukemen. The noodles are imported from Japan and customized to be extra thick and bouncy. Dipping them in the black pork marrow broth with dried seafood and squid ink makes the dish a dream umami experience. You can order the regular (B299), add toppings (B429), or go premium with some aromatic grilled lobster, salmon roe in truffles, and grilled kanimiso (crab fat) for B1,339.

 

Other meticulously crafted main attractions include the 48 hour grilled Wagyu beef tongue (B690), and Japanese pomfret carpaccio (B420).

 

 

From 5pm onward, the ramen shop turns into a sake bar. Since it's not crowded, the venue offers a private escape for solo diners, couples, or a quiet coworker get together.

 

The night-time ramen menu centers around premium ingredients such as lobster, Hokkaido beef, and Iberico ham. 

 

Japanese bar grub like sushi, sashimi, oden, teppanyaki and pasta are designed to go with their sake and gin collections.